Did you know there are beavers on campus? Why do beavers build dams and ponds, and how do those structures create habitat and increase biodiversity? Learn about urban beavers and the ecological benefits they provide by visiting an immersive exhibit featuring the work of Chris Norcross, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences who studies how North American beavers affect the form and function of river systems.

Beavers are considered one of the most important “ecosystem engineer” species of the world. In altering habitats, they create a variety of opportunities for other species to live in places where they could not survive without beavers — for this reason, they are an important “keystone species.”